DEMO — fictional range. Local brief only, NOT SENT. No personal data is collected or transmitted.
BUYING
What a quotation needs in order to be a quotation.
Most apparel enquiries stall because the buyer has a size and no pattern. This is the list worth completing before the first message.
- The pattern
- Which block, which revision, and what the garment is graded to
- The fit
- Ease and balance, not only the chest measurement
- The fabric
- Weight, grain and the shrinkage allowance applied
- The run
- Which sizes, and which of them are screened
- The wash
- Which regime the shrinkage is measured against
- The finishes
- Rib, recovery, hem and stand spacing, because they are what is touched
- The tolerances
- Per garment rather than per nominal
- The market
- Because size designation and labelling differ by country
Why the pattern comes before the size.
Because a size is delivered by grading from a block. An enquiry that names a size but not a block revision is an enquiry about a shape neither side has agreed.
The most useful sentence in an enquiry.
"Graded from block revision B, and the run is screened at both ends." It tells the supplier which shape was agreed and whether the ends of the run are actually verified.
Why written beats verbal.
The expensive conversations are the ones about what was agreed. A brief that exists only in a meeting leaves every disputed detail open.